zBC12

On July 23rd IBM has announced the new business class model of the mainframe the zBC12. This is the successor to the z114 and is as you probably already guessed by the naming scheme build with the zEC12 technology.

From a Linux perspective the IBM tested platforms has been updated to include zBC12. Also Red Hat and SUSE updated their web sites to include the certifications:

• Red Hat certifications: RHEL5.8, RHEL 6.3
• SUSE certifications: SLES10 SP4, SLES11 SP2

Other useful links:

• IBM zEnterprise BC12 Technical Guide (Redbook) 
• zEC12 and zBC12 FAQ
• Red Hat promotion, SUSE promotion
• z/VM required service 

(updated 8/8/2013)